The waves surged higher and higher and I feared that they would come crashing through the house. I’d never seen so high a tide, nor one that brought in with it such an exotic harvest. The latest marine animal to be dumped at the point where the sea met the river was a dead whale.

I needed an reason for failing to meet CI, and not turning up for my medical appointment at 10:40. I took that advice of my old colleagues. I would ring the hospital and use the storm as my excuse.